Australia Most Creative Country, But What About Entrepreneurship?

Richard Florida is most well known for his 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class, that focused on creativity and other quality of life issues as drivers for economic growth. Most recently, Florida has co-authored the Global Creativity Index that points to Australia as the most creative country in the world.

The GCI is a broad-based measure for advanced economic growth and sustainable prosperity based on the 3Ts of economic development—talent, technology, and tolerance—rating and ranking 139 nations worldwide.

The top 10 most creative countries are:

Australia

United States

New Zealand

Canada

Denmark

Finland

Sweden

Iceland

Singapore

Netherlands

But what does that mean for Australia's entrepreneurs? Perhaps not as much as Florida suggests.

Boosting High-Impact Entrepreneurship In Australia, a report commissioned by the Australian government, found that while the country was in the world's top one percent of cited research papers on science, technology, engineering and math, it lacked the ability to translate that into global marketplace success. Australia has one of the highest rates of business creation in the world, but few startups have the capacity to grow beyond the local level. Producing more high-impact entrepreneurs with global ambitions and the ability to disrupt large markets using science and technology will be crucial to Australia’s future, the report finds.

The report identifies a mix of programmes in universities, from harnessing entrepreneurs as role models to hands-on learning through incubators, accelerators and overseas placements, as the best approach.